Submitted by SayUncle on Sat, 2006/12/30 - 1:13pm.
Update: Hats off to Comp USA who recovered all the images (and some more from ages back) from a Mini SD card.
==============
Last night, the desktop computer crashed hard. We're pretty good about backing up stuff but we haven't done a back up since last week. So, all of our Christmas photos were on there, including my boy's first Christmas. We want the pictures back.
After it crashed, I kept trying to reboot and googled up the error message. The solution from Microsoft was the same as it always is and they said to reinstall windows. I did. However, in the reinstall, it kept getting to a point where it said something like unable to create file system32 and it kicked out of reinstall. I went to Comp USA and grabbed a USB external HD case. Put the hard drive in it to see if it could be read and it could. However, all that is there is the Windows directory. It's all gone.
So, first, when did reinstalling windows format a hard drive? Second, can I get my stuff back?
Update: Also, the data was on our flash card but was deleted. Is that a better route?
What was your operating system? I hope not WIN 98...
But your stuff is pretty much gone. You might send the HD to a recovery site, but stop trying to reinstall over your old stuff, because every time you do it lessens the chances of recovery.
Submitted by Andy Axel on Sat, 2006/12/30 - 1:27pm.
So, first, when did reinstalling windows format a hard drive?
Since the innovation of Windows NT AS 3.1, pretty much. As you're installing, there's an option to "format using FAT" or "format using NTFS" which you might have missed.
Submitted by Andy Axel on Sat, 2006/12/30 - 1:47pm.
Just be sure to remove the card from your camera if you haven't already. You don't want to over-write anything on it by accident.
Believe me, I know this pain up close. (1) My wife's PC crashed and it had the last pictures she'd had with her dad. (2) I had a card with shots from a wedding I was doing which went tits-up. Yikes.
The one thing I regret about making the jump to digital is the lack of a 35mm negative...
Bummer. You already did what I would have suggested, i.e. getting an external USB housing and trying to read the drive. It would have been better if you had done that before trying to reinstall anything, but you have probably figured that out and it doesn't matter now.
What Andy said about trying to recover your flash card sounds like the best bet. I have never tried it, but I have heard it works in a lot of cases.
1. Start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.
2. When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.
3. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.
4. Read the End-User License Agreement, and then press F8.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP.
6. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Windows XP Setup.
Obviously it is too late for this to be helpful in this situation but, there are some LINUX distributions that offer a working OS on a CD. Knoppix is probably the most popular. If you downloaded and burned the CD and kept it around it would allow you to boot your box from the CD and then mount the hard drive and see what you can see and access. I don't think it will allow you to write to the harddrive. Modern LINUX is all about intuitive GUIs and is pretty easy to use.
Submitted by Eleanor A on Sun, 2006/12/31 - 1:12pm.
Could be crappy memory, too. I put in about 512 megs of RAM on a PC one time, rebooted the machine, and the memory fried just in time to kill my boot sector. Used a utility called CommandDisk to get some of the data back. Lost some photos I really wish I had, though.
(I'm about to back up my laptop, matter of fact...I do it reasonably often but really need to be better about it.)
Submitted by redmondkr on Sun, 2006/12/31 - 1:42pm.
I have an outboard hard drive and software that backs up "important" stuff every day at 10:00 PM. Still I keep an old 12GB drive loaded with nothing but Windows XP Professional in my desk drawer. If I have a major problem that seems to require re-loading Windows, that 12 Gig drive becomes my C drive long enough to explore the possibilities of salvation.
Fortunately (knock on wood) it has been a long time since I needed that kind of insurance. I think it's also a good idea to "clone" your drives every couple of years just in case.
I don't buy that virus explanation either, but running a Winders Box today without a good anti-virus application is like responding to Mariam Abacha when he tries to share all those Nigerian millions.
Submitted by Opinari on Mon, 2007/01/01 - 11:26pm.
This is a problem in the enterprise environment for us almost daily. People put files where they aren't backed up. Something craps out. then they wonder why we don't have some magic forensic tool to recover them. (We actually do, but those tools are licensed only for use on the servers, not the desktops.) To accommodate these eventualities, we always distribute new PCs with dual partitions - one for OS, and one for profiles, data, etc. This way, if the OS crashes, we can reinstall from a standard image, and the data is still intact. That's how I run my home server too, running mssql's data directory, inetpub, and all virtual directories from a data partition. This architecture saved me once when I tried to upgrade a box from 2000 to XP Pro and it wiped out the OS partition. Luckily the data was saved. Hindsight and all that, right? I guess what I'm sayin' is if you run a second partition, anything that isn't backed up probably won't be lost if you have an OS tank on you.
What was your operating system? I hope not WIN 98...
But your stuff is pretty much gone. You might send the HD to a recovery site, but stop trying to reinstall over your old stuff, because every time you do it lessens the chances of recovery.
Try this...
Link...
It's XP home edition. I don't know that it ever actuall finished a reinstall as it couldn't get passed the system32 thing.
---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?
Since the innovation of Windows NT AS 3.1, pretty much. As you're installing, there's an option to "format using FAT" or "format using NTFS" which you might have missed.
I've used this utility with some success:
Link...
____________________________
Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.
Update: Also, the data was on our flash card but was deleted. Is that a better route?
For the pictures, yes.
Rescue Pro is damned good for this.
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1186)-RescuePro.aspx
I've used it on SD and CF cards from Lexar and SanDisk with good results.
____________________________
Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.
A more likely route, according to the tech dude who thinks we got a bug of some sort. Perhaps AVG let me down.
We back up regularly and I did one the week before christmas. All i care about is my boy's first christmas photos. anything else, i can recreate.
---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?
Just be sure to remove the card from your camera if you haven't already. You don't want to over-write anything on it by accident.
Believe me, I know this pain up close. (1) My wife's PC crashed and it had the last pictures she'd had with her dad. (2) I had a card with shots from a wedding I was doing which went tits-up. Yikes.
The one thing I regret about making the jump to digital is the lack of a 35mm negative...
____________________________
Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.
Bummer. You already did what I would have suggested, i.e. getting an external USB housing and trying to read the drive. It would have been better if you had done that before trying to reinstall anything, but you have probably figured that out and it doesn't matter now.
What Andy said about trying to recover your flash card sounds like the best bet. I have never tried it, but I have heard it works in a lot of cases.
Well, COmpUSA got my pics from a flash card. Good for them.
Yeah, hindsight and all. Seriously, reinstalling formats an HD? Gimme a damn break. My tech guy says it was likely a virus or something. Odd.
ETA: oops cross posted
---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?
Ummm... your tech guy sounds a little lazy.
It's easy enough to blame a virus, but as you step through an installation of XP, if you do a "clean install," it will wipe the drive.
Link...
1. Start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.
2. When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.
3. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.
4. Read the End-User License Agreement, and then press F8.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP.
6. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Windows XP Setup.
____________________________
Dirty mouth language -- it's the new black.
That's great news re. CompUSA being able to recover your photos. Glad you were able to get them back.
...and because I am so very bad at backing things up, I was ecstatic to learn about Link...
on NPR last week. Apparently, they offer some of us a way to do this effectively and relatively cheaply.
Obviously it is too late for this to be helpful in this situation but, there are some LINUX distributions that offer a working OS on a CD. Knoppix is probably the most popular. If you downloaded and burned the CD and kept it around it would allow you to boot your box from the CD and then mount the hard drive and see what you can see and access. I don't think it will allow you to write to the harddrive. Modern LINUX is all about intuitive GUIs and is pretty easy to use.
CAFKIA
-----------------------------------------------------------
It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
- William G. McAdoo
Could be crappy memory, too. I put in about 512 megs of RAM on a PC one time, rebooted the machine, and the memory fried just in time to kill my boot sector. Used a utility called CommandDisk to get some of the data back. Lost some photos I really wish I had, though.
(I'm about to back up my laptop, matter of fact...I do it reasonably often but really need to be better about it.)
I have an outboard hard drive and software that backs up "important" stuff every day at 10:00 PM. Still I keep an old 12GB drive loaded with nothing but Windows XP Professional in my desk drawer. If I have a major problem that seems to require re-loading Windows, that 12 Gig drive becomes my C drive long enough to explore the possibilities of salvation.
Fortunately (knock on wood) it has been a long time since I needed that kind of insurance. I think it's also a good idea to "clone" your drives every couple of years just in case.
I don't buy that virus explanation either, but running a Winders Box today without a good anti-virus application is like responding to Mariam Abacha when he tries to share all those Nigerian millions.
This is a problem in the enterprise environment for us almost daily. People put files where they aren't backed up. Something craps out. then they wonder why we don't have some magic forensic tool to recover them. (We actually do, but those tools are licensed only for use on the servers, not the desktops.) To accommodate these eventualities, we always distribute new PCs with dual partitions - one for OS, and one for profiles, data, etc. This way, if the OS crashes, we can reinstall from a standard image, and the data is still intact. That's how I run my home server too, running mssql's data directory, inetpub, and all virtual directories from a data partition. This architecture saved me once when I tried to upgrade a box from 2000 to XP Pro and it wiped out the OS partition. Luckily the data was saved. Hindsight and all that, right? I guess what I'm sayin' is if you run a second partition, anything that isn't backed up probably won't be lost if you have an OS tank on you.
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